It was a warm summer night, hot but not humid, perfect weather for soccer in the deep south. A cool breeze rushed past my face as the ball soared into the net. The score? 0-2. My team?Losing. It was times like these when I regretted being a goalie. I slowly got back up off of the ground, and brushed the dirt off my knees. The glaring eyes of my coach stared down upon me, and I quickly became more conscious of the harsh words I would receive on the bench than the outcome of the game. As the game came to a close, the score still being 0-2, my world was filled with sound. I could hear the excitement of the opposing team, the disappointment of my team, the shouting of the fans, and even the far off music of the ice cream truck. The only person who was silent was my coach. As I walked off the field, I was nervous thinking about what was to come. I knew the second goal was my fault, and my coach would surely blame me for it. However, all I received was a pat on the back.
Camera Piece: Berlin Wall
(Work in progress)
Who knew that an old, warn down, decrepit, graffiti covered slab of concrete would one day be on display as a piece of history? For this slice of wall that once stood to represent separation, restriction of rights, and a time of war, does not seem to be the ideal piece of history to display as one wanders through the social sciences section of campus.
Extra Rough Draft [College Application Essay]
Question: Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
In the seventh grade I decided to attend my schools math club, because I had always considered myself to be good at math and my math class at the time was rather boring. At first, I was overwhelmed by the talent of my fellow mathematicians and the difficulty of the math we were doing. We focused mainly on problem solving, an area of mathematics that is very similar to engineering in the fact that they both relate to real world problems, rather than the theoretical mathematics that is commonly taught in school. Many of the problems I encountered required knowledge of geometry, algebra II, and trigonometry to solve, all of which were subjects that I had not yet had a formal class on. However, I was able to apply the math I learned from the problem solving in math club to my math classes in school, which made them much more interesting.
Eventually, as I absorbed information through the other math students and the teacher, I improved my problem solving abilities so that I was one of the four members of the team that placed 4th at the state competition.
Take Two
I had always considered myself to be good at math and my math class at the time was rather boring. The combination of these two factors led me to join my middle schools math club, and despite having no knowledge of this club beforehand, I assumed it would be easy. I was wrong, incredibly wrong. On the first meeting of the math club we took a placement test, to give the teacher a rough estimation of our skill levels. The questions on this test were like nothing I had ever seen before. They were "problem solving" based questions that required not only a concrete understanding of many different mathematical techniques, but also the ability to apply these ideas in real world situations. I was able to easily solve the first few questions on this test, using my basic knowledge of algebra and geometry, but as the problems gradually became more and more difficult, I found myself miserably lost and confused. I remember staring blankly at a single question for ten solid minutes, trying to convince myself that it was not actually possible to solve, and the entire test was just a cruel joke. As the timer rang to indicate our time was up, I looked around the room, hoping to find another person who shared my anguish. Sadly, everyone else appeared to be perfectly content. One kid even turned to his friend and exclaimed, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Dude, that was sooo easy."
Needless to say, at this point I was ready to be done with math club, and never attend another meeting, despite the free snacks. Eventually, however, due to the fact that I had nothing better to do with my afternoons between school and soccer practice, I decided to continue on with math club. I then spent the next year and a half absorbing all of the information that I could not only from the teacher, but also from my fellow math students.
Six Room Poem
On top of the world,
what if he falls?
A feeling of awe.
On top of the world,
the sun shines.
Bright on one side,
dark on the other.
On top of the world,
lofty in the sky.
Peaceful silence.
He holds his head high.
Third time's the charm
I had always considered myself to be good at math and my math class at the time was rather boring. The combination of these two factors led me to join my middle schools math club, and despite having no knowledge of this club beforehand, I assumed it would be easy. I was wrong, incredibly wrong.
On the first meeting of the math club we took a placement test, to give the teacher a rough estimation of our skill levels. The questions on this test were like nothing I had ever seen before. They were "problem solving" based questions that required not only a concrete understanding of many different mathematical techniques, but also the ability to apply these ideas in real world situations. I was able to easily solve the first few questions on this test, using my basic knowledge of algebra and geometry, but as the problems gradually became more and more difficult, I found myself miserably lost and confused. I remember staring blankly at a single question for ten solid minutes, trying to convince myself that it was not actually possible to solve, and the entire test was just a cruel joke. As the timer rang to indicate our time was up, I looked around the room, hoping to find another person who shared my anguish. Sadly, everyone else appeared to be perfectly content.
At this point I was ready to turn my back on math club, and never attend another meeting, despite the free snacks. Eventually, however, due to the fact that I had nothing better to do with my afternoons between school and soccer practice, I decided to continue with it. I then spent the next year and a half absorbing all of the information that I could, not only from the teacher, but also from my fellow math students, who turned out to be more kind and helpful than I would have ever imagined. During this time I learned many new ideas, concepts, and techniques that not only helped me in math club, but also made my regular math classes in school much more interesting. All of my hard work finally paid off at the end of the 8th grade when I was one of the four members of our math team that placed 4th at the state math competition.
Aside from the numerous amounts of math I learned from this experience I also learned an important life lesson: to never give up on something before giving it a fair chance. It is easy to base one’s entire opinion on another thing or person entirely on first impressions, which is something too many of us do unconsciously, for as Atticus Finch once said "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Ben, go hard, or go home.
Rambling Autobiography
It was a warm summer night, hot but not humid, perfect weather for soccer in the deep south. A cool breeze rushed past my face as the ball soared into the net. The score? 0-2. My team?Losing. It was times like these when I regretted being a goalie. I slowly got back up off of the ground, and brushed the dirt off my knees. The glaring eyes of my coach stared down upon me, and I quickly became more conscious of the harsh words I would receive on the bench than the outcome of the game. As the game came to a close, the score still being 0-2, my world was filled with sound. I could hear the excitement of the opposing team, the disappointment of my team, the shouting of the fans, and even the far off music of the ice cream truck. The only person who was silent was my coach. As I walked off the field, I was nervous thinking about what was to come. I knew the second goal was my fault, and my coach would surely blame me for it. However, all I received was a pat on the back.
Camera Piece: Berlin Wall
(Work in progress)
Who knew that an old, warn down, decrepit, graffiti covered slab of concrete would one day be on display as a piece of history? For this slice of wall that once stood to represent separation, restriction of rights, and a time of war, does not seem to be the ideal piece of history to display as one wanders through the social sciences section of campus.
Extra Rough Draft [College Application Essay]
Question: Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
In the seventh grade I decided to attend my schools math club, because I had always considered myself to be good at math and my math class at the time was rather boring. At first, I was overwhelmed by the talent of my fellow mathematicians and the difficulty of the math we were doing. We focused mainly on problem solving, an area of mathematics that is very similar to engineering in the fact that they both relate to real world problems, rather than the theoretical mathematics that is commonly taught in school. Many of the problems I encountered required knowledge of geometry, algebra II, and trigonometry to solve, all of which were subjects that I had not yet had a formal class on. However, I was able to apply the math I learned from the problem solving in math club to my math classes in school, which made them much more interesting.
Eventually, as I absorbed information through the other math students and the teacher, I improved my problem solving abilities so that I was one of the four members of the team that placed 4th at the state competition.
Take Two
I had always considered myself to be good at math and my math class at the time was rather boring. The combination of these two factors led me to join my middle schools math club, and despite having no knowledge of this club beforehand, I assumed it would be easy. I was wrong, incredibly wrong. On the first meeting of the math club we took a placement test, to give the teacher a rough estimation of our skill levels. The questions on this test were like nothing I had ever seen before. They were "problem solving" based questions that required not only a concrete understanding of many different mathematical techniques, but also the ability to apply these ideas in real world situations. I was able to easily solve the first few questions on this test, using my basic knowledge of algebra and geometry, but as the problems gradually became more and more difficult, I found myself miserably lost and confused. I remember staring blankly at a single question for ten solid minutes, trying to convince myself that it was not actually possible to solve, and the entire test was just a cruel joke. As the timer rang to indicate our time was up, I looked around the room, hoping to find another person who shared my anguish. Sadly, everyone else appeared to be perfectly content. One kid even turned to his friend and exclaimed, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Dude, that was sooo easy."
Needless to say, at this point I was ready to be done with math club, and never attend another meeting, despite the free snacks. Eventually, however, due to the fact that I had nothing better to do with my afternoons between school and soccer practice, I decided to continue on with math club. I then spent the next year and a half absorbing all of the information that I could not only from the teacher, but also from my fellow math students.
Six Room Poem
On top of the world,
what if he falls?
A feeling of awe.
On top of the world,
the sun shines.
Bright on one side,
dark on the other.
On top of the world,
lofty in the sky.
Peaceful silence.
He holds his head high.
Third time's the charm
I had always considered myself to be good at math and my math class at the time was rather boring. The combination of these two factors led me to join my middle schools math club, and despite having no knowledge of this club beforehand, I assumed it would be easy. I was wrong, incredibly wrong.
On the first meeting of the math club we took a placement test, to give the teacher a rough estimation of our skill levels. The questions on this test were like nothing I had ever seen before. They were "problem solving" based questions that required not only a concrete understanding of many different mathematical techniques, but also the ability to apply these ideas in real world situations. I was able to easily solve the first few questions on this test, using my basic knowledge of algebra and geometry, but as the problems gradually became more and more difficult, I found myself miserably lost and confused. I remember staring blankly at a single question for ten solid minutes, trying to convince myself that it was not actually possible to solve, and the entire test was just a cruel joke. As the timer rang to indicate our time was up, I looked around the room, hoping to find another person who shared my anguish. Sadly, everyone else appeared to be perfectly content.
At this point I was ready to turn my back on math club, and never attend another meeting, despite the free snacks. Eventually, however, due to the fact that I had nothing better to do with my afternoons between school and soccer practice, I decided to continue with it. I then spent the next year and a half absorbing all of the information that I could, not only from the teacher, but also from my fellow math students, who turned out to be more kind and helpful than I would have ever imagined. During this time I learned many new ideas, concepts, and techniques that not only helped me in math club, but also made my regular math classes in school much more interesting. All of my hard work finally paid off at the end of the 8th grade when I was one of the four members of our math team that placed 4th at the state math competition.
Aside from the numerous amounts of math I learned from this experience I also learned an important life lesson: to never give up on something before giving it a fair chance. It is easy to base one’s entire opinion on another thing or person entirely on first impressions, which is something too many of us do unconsciously, for as Atticus Finch once said "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."